Wednesday, January 12, 2011

"I’ve spent more than a few columns predicting that the so-called tea partiers – the grassroots populist movement that has our liberal elites in a frothy-mouthed lather – will be logically led to call for major cuts in military spending – and, by the sheer logic of their anti-spending, “anti-government” position, eventually come to challenge our foreign policy of global intervention. The other day, as I listened to a fascinating panel discussion on Warren Olney‘s KCRW radio show To the Point on defense spending and deficit reduction, I had the distinct pleasure of hearing my prediction come true – a lot sooner, I have to admit, than I ever imagined.

While Professor Walt basically agreed with Littleton’s arguments, he distanced himself by saying that “I wouldn’t go that far” in terms of scaling down America’s overseas commitments. That’s what was most striking about this little session: the libertarian was the most radical, the most willing to challenge the comfortable assumptions of both left and right, and easily the most optimistic....."